To: Corporate Yank
One Florida utility uses a Hughes/MD (Don’t know which model) to both inspect and repair their high voltage power lines. In the repair mode they move sideways towards the highline with a man sitting on a side platform. He is wearing a special chain mail suit under his flight suit. He grounds (earths) the helicopter to the highline and usually there is a very large arc. With the helicopter attached to the highline the man gets off of the platform and onto the wire. He then shinnies himself up to where they had previously spotted a damaged insulator and the man then removes and replaces the damaged insulator. The process is then reversed and the man gets back on the platform and breaks the connection between the helicopter and the highline. Florida is known for Alligator wrestling and I think the guy on the wires is the same person that wrestles alligators on his off time.
A bit off the subject, in Scandinavia they use a Hughes/MD to clear the right of way for the utility by cutting down tree branches that come near the wires. No, not with the rotor blades. The have an external sling load that consists of several radial saws hung in a chain. I think they use a gas-powered engine for drive.
The helicopter sets up a line parallel to the highline and moves along that line and if any tree branches get in the way they are cut off. From what I could determine it was very effective.
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The Cat